I’ve imagined a million times what it would be like when we meet again. Maybe at our family gathering, maybe at a friend’s party, or maybe even at my wedding in the future.But I’ve never thought about this, with him sitting there with his beautiful new girlfriend, and me standing there all embarrassed like a clown.This can’t be any worse.But unlike me, he doesn’t seem surprised at all. He simply looks at me calmly, as if we just saw each other this morning.“Babe,” his girlfriend pouts. “This is the stupid waitress I was talking about. She ruined the outfit you got me and—”He cuts her off, “Natalia.”He isn’t pretending that he doesn’t know me, as I thought he would be.But he used to call me “Nat” and not “Natalia.”Then he stands up from his seat and leans forward, giving me a gentle hug. I can smell his scent, the familiar scent of mint and woods, but this hug feels very strange. His hug used to be full of passion and energy, but now it’s polite and aloof.“It’s been a long tim

I almost stutter, “M—Mr. Johnson, what are you doing here?”He picks up his baseball bats and points it at me, “What does it seem like? I’m here to move you out of my house! Hurry up! Don’t make me force you.”I take a step back, staring at his baseball bat warily. Mr. Johnson is a little hot-tempered, yes, but I didn’t think of him as someone who would beat the shit out of his tenants just because they missed one payment.“What are you doing with that bat?” I ask carefully keeping my safe distance with him. “There’s no need for that. I—I can call the police!”He rolls his eyes at me, “Cut the crap little girl. I don’t hit woman, but if you keep mooching off me, I might lose my temper. So get moving, now!”“Please, Mr. Johnson. Just one more chance. I promise you I’ll get the rent ready by the end of this month. Something happened at work, and I didn’t—”“NO!!” he roars, covering his eyes with his hands. “No excuses! You said the same thing last month and you still came back empty-han

“I was worried about you,” he frowns and says. “You gave me a new address without telling me why you moved, and you rarely answered my calls for the past few days, so I came down here to check on you. Are you OK? Whose house is this?” I wasn’t intentionally ignoring his calls. I was so busy for the past whole week that I didn’t even have the time to check my phone. As I try to stammer an excuse, a flicker of doubt appears in his eyes. I know what he is thinking: this is a fancy apartment located in upper east side, somewhere I apparently can’t afford. “Are you…” he slowly begins, “…dating someone?” “No!” I quickly begin. I can’t have him know that I’m living with Eason right now. He won’t understand. Plus, this is only a temporary arrangement anyway, so there’s no need for him to know and I can spare his worries. “My lease expired so I’m staying with a friend before I get a new apartment,” I say, and it is partly the truth. “Oh,” he nods, slightly relieved. “Aren’t you going to

Mom is thrilled that I’m finally back. Upon seeing me, she pulled me into her arms for a big hug and didn’t let go for one minute. She asked me a lot of questions about my life in Miami and New York, and of course she didn’t miss out the chance to interrogate me about the reason I left Boston three years ago.“I had always been thinking that after you graduate high school, you could continue studying here. There are lots of great college in Boston and you could pick the one you like…”I sigh, “Mom, I’ve told you before. I can’t afford a fancy elite college.”Seeing she opens her mouth in disapproval, I quickly add to that, “—And don’t say that Mr. Ramirez is willing to help me! I’m not taking any more of his money.”She pouts.“Fine…but I still don’t understand why you needed to leave in such a hurry! You didn’t even tell me and just got on a flight and left. Do you know what kind of damage it did to me? I kept thinking that I didn’t something wrong—”“Just let it go mom. It was three

“Why was she removed from our store again?” the other saleslady asks on time. The same question I am wondering.“She ordered several pieces of fancy jewelries but can’t make the final payment. The manger offers to resell those jewelries on her behalf, yet she didn’t like that option either. She kept telling us to show her some respect because her family is very respected in town.”“Is it?”“Well, yes, a few years ago. But the Booth family is going downhill and is facing financial crisis right now. Oh her poor fiancé. If he marries her, he’ll face so many troubles, like money wise.”“Her fiancé is so hot. I think he can do so much better…”And then they leave the lady’s room together.I stand still in my little stall, taking a time to process what I just heard.So Katherine is only marrying Eason for his money? Does he know about this? Does Mr. Ramirez and Ms. Griswold know??I bet Eason doesn’t know. He didn’t even bother to get to know Katherine, let along her family. But one thing f